I Gotta Catch You!
by Silent Sage
Summary: Ulquiorra does not enjoy being in his pokeball. He doesn't necessarily mind it, but the last time Orihime kept him in his pokeball, she ended up inadvertently kidnapped by Team Rocket and held hostage. AU
1. for the better

**I Gotta Catch You!**

**Disclaimer**: Bleach and anything related to it do not belong to me, but Tite Kubo and that guy who created Pokemon.

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><p>Ulquiorra does not enjoy being in his pokeball. He doesn't necessarily <em>mind<em> it, but the last time Orihime kept him in his pokeball, she ended up inadvertently kidnapped by Team Rocket –aren't they supposed to be capturing _Pokémon_?- and held hostage for approximately five minutes.

Those five minutes were mostly 'evil villain monologue' time. Enough time for Ulquiorra to bodily throw himself against the confines of his pokeball until the annoying contraption freed him.

The Team Rocket members were understandably upset when he appeared, interrupting their painstakingly rehearsed skit, until they actually _looked_ at him and his narrowed gaze.

Hell broke loose afterward.

Suffice it to say, he is constantly by her side, barely a few feet away to keep her out of harm's way.

That and he is concerned about her well-being since she has an almost daunting tendency to walk head-on into inanimate objects.

Being out of his pokeball has its benefits. For one, he can grab her while she's walking, digging in her bag for an unnamed item, and _just_ stop her from walking into her next concussion. Another, his large, expansive wings make an excellent cover from the rain when Orihime forgets her umbrella for the nth time at the Pokecenter a few miles back.

However, it has its noticeable downfalls.

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra have an odd rivalry (she cannot utter the word friendship in their presence regarding one another; it'll end badly), which has led the blue feline to deem his pokeball 'for losers'. He is out of his pokeball almost as much as Ulquiorra.

They _do_ get along.

Within reason.

Sort of.

When they're traveling, the situation is similar to a parent with her kids in the back; the younger teasing the older child mercilessly, namely Grimmjow attempting to annoy Ulquiorra by swatting the bat Pokémon with his tail or paw before he sprints off further down the trail.

Ulquiorra does not retaliate.

However, if for some random reason Grimmjow accidentally trips on Ulquiorra's tail and ends up in the river, Orihime does not scold Ulquiorra as harshly as she should.

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><p><strong>SS<strong>: Random plotbunny is random. I might continue. I like Pokemon and I like Bleach, so I might as well devote my time to not!studying and write fic. haha Review and tell me what y'all thought of it!


	2. Murcielago

**I Gotta Catch You!**

**Disclaimer**: Bleach and anything related to it do not belong to me, but Tite Kubo and that guy who created Pokemon.

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><p>Chapter 2: <strong>Murcielago <strong>

He has been by himself for a very, very long time.

His species is not a very loving one to their young.

After a point.

He remembers his mother.

He remembers his siblings.

She would cup them in her paw –gentle, tender- and lick their heads, calming their unruly hair.

His siblings would often pounce on him and nip at his ears. They would play-fight in the nest, their unused wings furled tightly to their bodies.

He tugged at his wings once. What use were they? He saw his mother fly all the time to bring back food for them. He didn't need to go anywhere. He has his mom and siblings; everything he needed was at the nest.

He looked up, a paw still holding his closed wing, and meets his mother's eyes.

She was watching him.

Her emerald eyes briefly flickered: cold, hard, and looming.

For the first time in his young life, he was fearful.

In an instant, like that moment never happened, that look disappeared. She smiled. She picked him up in her paw, _familiar_, and held him close to her chest, humming a nameless tune until he fell asleep.

Several moons would pass until he saw those eyes again.

He watched as those same paws shoved his siblings off the branch of the tree where they were born, where they grew up; the only world they knew. He remembers his siblings' shrieks of fear and surprise as they toppled over from their nest, their arms grasping blinding toward their mother, their wings shaking and fluttering.

They try though. Their wings attempt to open due to instinct, to help them _survive_, despite the overall panic of their fall.

One of his siblings, he remembers, never opened his wings.

He heard the thump.

Two managed to unfold their wings. He remembers seeing black wings in the air, darting between the branches like skittering shadows across the treetops.

Unlike shadows, they made noise.

And made noise, they did plenty of.

Their calls of joy due to their accomplishment were short-lived.

Hunting Noctowl with their weak eyes and strong ears swept by, grabbing them midair.

The quiet returned. He knows Noctowl kill their prey instantaneously with a sharp bite to the neck with their strong beaks.

A quick, hopefully painless death.

He is the last that is pushed off. He can see his mother's gleaming emerald eyes watching passively after him as he falls.

He should feel anger, confusion, rage, betrayal, but he-

Feels nothing.

His fall is both quick and everlasting.

He almost-almost wants to fall forever, like his brother.

Then-

_quick, lashing _

**Pain**.

Hits him squarely in the face.

He is shaken, he _feels_ a quickly looming earth before him.

Instinct overrides his senses.

His eyes are half blind from the unfortunate encounter with a tree branch, but his eyes are unnecessary at this moment.

Instead, he listens.

He hears the wind dance amongst the leaves and one is nearing…

He opens his wings for the very first time, spreading the expansive leathery appendages from his back and suddenly; he's floating in the air.

The dark sky above and the earth below.

Neither able to grasp him.

The solitary moon is witness to his first flight.

He breathes, trembling, a hiccup of a full breath, unable to fathom his own movements as the ground below disappears and the moon beckons him to come closer. His wings widen of their own accord as the night air surges from the mountains and sweep through the forest, lifting him upward.

He is above the treetops.

He sees the stars.

There are millions of billions of them, shining down at him as he soars.

He feels like he could stay above the trees, skimming the clouds, touch the stars, see the world that is so much bigger and better than his nest, and never come down.

His wings state differently.

He was always quieter one out of all of his siblings.

He still sees the stray shadows of Noctowl darting in the air, their satisfied hooting magnified in the quiet of the night. He is quiet as he glides amongst the trees. He can hear the blood rushing in his ears, He hears his heart thrumming rapidly against his chest like the beat of Beedrill's wings; it feels like it's going to burst.

A stray hoot, just past him, maybe far away, he can't tell. The forest tells tales only to those who are keen enough to listen.

He stays close to the trees, away from the moon's direct light.

He is a sliver of moonlight, a stray misplaced shadow.

He lands on a low hanging branch. His wings are -sore, eager, ready to take flight- but he can feel the weariness knotting his wings to its very tips. He furls them back to his back.

It's itchy and feels almost foreign to feel his wings against the length of his back.

The branches overhead rustle and he looks up to see his mother's familiar tail whip past as she darts away… from the nest, his siblings, his life, and into the pitch darkness of the seemingly endless forest.

His father did the same thing the first and last time he met his mother.

There is noise in the underbrush.

He glances down.

The Paras and other insect Pokémon –the scavengers- are chattering to one another, clicking and chirping to one another in their own language frantically.

They are rejoicing. It is mealtime.

He can see a familiar, black and white figure on the ground.

He knows.

He knows _better_.

He survived after all.

He ignores that clench in his gut, but whatever sense of family that had not left him the moment his mother pushed him away, forces him to jump off the branch and glide downward.

His wings itch. As he approaches, sees the figures below, the still one that is so familiar, he almost wishes his wings never opened.

He lands, the crunch of his feet on the cool, dew-damp ground, causing the bug Pokémon to stop their ministrations to their newest meal. He bares his white canines. He is small, but he stretches his wings and thrashes his head, his horns glisten menacingly.

His eyes, a vibrant green reminiscent of their –no, _his_- mother's. They glow, aided by a suddenly indifferent moon, and tonight he is crowned the new demon of the forest.

The foraging Pokémon scurry away.

He looks down at the motionless body.

The other's wings never did release from their body.

His eyes burn.

He mourns his triumphant over his siblings.

The tears stain his cheeks to this very day.

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><p><strong>SS<strong>: Tadaaah! I hope I did Ulquiorra justice. haha Critique or just comments in general would be appreciated. I'm starting to wonder if anyone is reading this or if this is for my own crazy, fangirl imagination! haha


	3. Annoying Creatures

**I Gotta Catch You!**

Chapter 3: **Annoying Creatures**

...**  
><strong>

Humans stare too much.

They're not very subtle creatures.

Especially when they _whisper_.

Grimmjow preens under their awed gazes.

He enjoys it; he likes knowing that he is powerful, beautiful, rare, and then-

_Then_ he'll hear that exclamation about his trainer and his ears will press down against his skull and he'll growl.

'_How did-'_

'_Why are they-'_

'_She must be-'_

No. One. Questions _HIS_ judgment.

Especially _his_ trainer. The one _he, _Grimmjow, chose.

Grimmjow once asked Ulquiorra why the human's senseless chatter didn't bother him.

Ulquiorra stated that those people weren't Orihime.

What?

Clearly, the bat pokemon had indeed gone crazy.

"There's **Orihime** and then there's _Everyone Else_.

Everyone Else can fall into a hole and never reemerge," Ulquiorra clarified.

That day, Ulquiorra became less crazy in Grimmjow's Crazy-O-Meter.

Still, Grimmjow hopes that Ulquiorra does not take the initiative to drop them into aforementioned hole. Orihime would probably ask him to find and rescue them from said hole.

Although he does (begrudgingly) agree with Ulquiorra.

He would allow Everyone Else to rot in said hole.

It reaffirms his opinion that their trainer is too kind to be a pokemon battler.

She doesn't say anything or speak badly about those pokemon trainers when they gossip about her.

There was one incident, Grimmjow snorted, that their trainer wanted them to follow that idiot group of people who kidnapped her just because they kidnapped other trainers' pokemon.

Although he still complied, crouching down to allow her to climb onto his back to follow after Ulquiorra as he tailed Team Rocket in the sky.

Grimmjow doesn't mind the staring. Not as much as he did before.

Orihime doesn't need to prove anything to anyone else. He chose her and the little bubblehead should be aware that is enough.

When it isn't, when he sees her shoulders sag and her fist clench, he gets up.

He's always looking a reason to show off his nice, white, _sharp_ fangs.

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><p><strong>SS<strong>: A chapter dedicated to Grimm! haha I hope I got his personality and the dynamics with the other characters down well. Still, reviews would totally be awesome. They kinda inspire me (boast my writing self-esteem). haha


	4. Eclipse

**I Gotta Catch You!**

Chapter Four: **Eclipse**

...

She gets _looks_.

Orihime is used to less than subtle glances or whispers due to her…physique. She's made her peace with that ever since she woke up one morning and there were _lumps_ on her chest that were not there the day before.

She may notice things straight away, but she gets it. She's a girl, a very nice looking one at that, traveling alone on her Pokémon journey.

Well, not _necessarily_ alone.

People see her and then they see her Pokémon.

And then they look back at her.

And staring resumes with a touch of surrealism on their part.

Orihime would like to think the looks were due mainly to curiosity about her Pokémon. Seeing a trainer with one Pokémon out of its ball is normal; two Pokémon definitely raises some eyebrows.

Especially when they're rare and powerful Pokémon.

Getting a glimpse of either a Murcielago or Pantera is rare. They can be seen with a top-notch trainer, usually in the Elite Four or maybe-_just_ _maybe_ a Gym Leader. Seeing them in the wild, let alone catching either of them in the wild is just a dream to many.

A single trainer with both of these Pokémon just _casually_ strolling around with them out of their pokeball in the middle of town is almost too ludicrous to even imagine.

Except it's definitely happening and _has happened_ on more than one occasion.

After the initial shock of seeing the Pokémon, trainers and bystanders alike will peer around them, looking for that trainer who has probably battled the Elite Four –is possibly the forerunner to replace an Elite Four member- once or twice, might even have a running for Champion, who is strong, commanding and…

…not a petite girl, happily munching on a whole loaf of bread covered in red bean paste.

Orihime can understand the looks.

Sometimes, she wakes up and after she finishes rubbing her eyes and looks around her bed, she is startled a little to see Ulquiorra and Grimmjow sleeping alongside her.

And then she's surprised that she's startled by Ulquiorra and Grimmjow because she's known them almost all her life.

As a little girl, she thought nothing of it.

Walking into town, Ulquiorra's paw clasped around her tiny hand as she dragged the bat pokemon around with her to every store or food stall.

There was this one time after their third or fourth visit outside, that she noticed Ulquiorra would constantly look down at the ground, covering his eyes with his bangs, or close his eyes almost the point that he was at worst: glaring or at best: squinting.

Orihime frowned. She was a smart little seven-year-old and her mind connected the dots like this:

"Ulquiorra is a bat pokemon."

"Bat pokemon come out at night."

"Three in the afternoon is not night."

"Ulquiorra pain during the daytime."

"Pain is bad."

"Solution: Buy Ulquiorra sunglasses!"

Her brother was a little confused when Orihime came back home with Ulquiorra in tow; the ice cream money he gave her justifiably used for the pair of large sunglasses that now adorned Ulquiorra's face.

Now, _now_ she understands the looks.

They weren't because of Ulquiorra's snazzy new sunglasses.

She doesn't mind the looks of astonishment and amazement that are properly directed toward these rarely seen Pokémon. It comes with the territory when owning rare pokemon.

It does help when the looks become unbearable, when Orihime quiets, when Grimmjow notices her discomfort and his fur is on edge, that's when Ulquiorra saddles up every so quietly next to her.

And plants his sunglasses, the same one from way back then –it's been carefully handled and preserved despite the years- with its fluorescent green frames that cover half her face, atop the bridge of her nose.

Her view is darkened.

And then Orihime remembers.

Before anyone else, before the looks and whispers, her Pokemon saw her first.

She doesn't take the sunglasses. She wears them with pride.

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><p><strong>SS<strong>: A short chapter, but this was originally part of the first chapter before I completely butchered it up and made it into little drabble/mini-thingy. Still, I like this. I don't get why Orihime gets so much hate from Bleach. I really like her. She has a lot of inner strength and I hope I even managed to touch base on even just a tidbit of the conviction she showed in the manga. Anyway, let me got off my soapbox and ask for comments and criticism!


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